In line with Emmanuel Macron's speech and discussions at the recent Social Summit in Gothenburg, let's puts education at the heart of a more social and prosperous Europe, argue Michael Gaebel and Thomas Jorgensen.

Europe’s credibility hinges on national leaders agreeing social legislation that applies across the bloc, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Friday (17 November) at a summit with leaders from EU countries in Gothenburg, Sweden.

This week is all about pushing forward by finally adding a “social pillar” to the EU-framework. Scandinavia has been leading the way on sustainable social models for decades – so there is no need to reinvent the wheel.

After this week's European Council summit in Brussels, EU leaders are already preparing for their next meeting, which will take place in Sweden next month and focus on social issues. It's a divisive area and member states still have one major hurdle in their way before they reconvene.

Climate change topped the agenda of the Tripartite Social Summit yesterday (13 March), with social partners insisting that incentives must be offered to prevent potentially polluting industries from relocating and withdrawing jobs from the EU.

European social partners have agreed upon the key principles to guide "flexicurity" labour market reforms in member states at a key meeting with EU leaders in Lisbon, bringing an end to months of bickering.

In March the EU is going to take stock. The heads of state and governments will have to discuss the progress of the Lisbon strategy, which is supposed to turn Europe into the most competitive economic area in the world. In this context Christophe Leclercq and Kristina Weich Hondrila from EURACTIV.com summarise for Politik & Kommunikation the most important upcoming events in Brussels.
The full version of this article is only available in German.

In a commentary for the Wall Street Journal, Jack Lang, the former French education, research and culture minister and one of the best-known socialist politicians in his country, argues it was not a good idea in the first place to make social Europe the theme of the Hampton Court summit, because this model was not what was in question.

In a new Communication published on 26 June the Commission proposes the creation of tripartite social summit for growth and employment "raising the profile of the results of the social dialogue and strengthening coherence between the national and European levels".